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10 Deadpool 2 Fan Theories That Were Right (And 10 That Were Wrong)

Rejoice! The long wait is over and the sequel to the insanely popular Deadpool is upon us! Deadpool 2 ups the ante in every single way it can. This time, there was more violence, more fourth-wall breaking humor, and more beloved characters from the parts of the Marvel Universe that Fox has the rights to still, including Zazie Beetz's Domino and Josh Brolin's Cable. The premiere of the mutant mercenary team X-Force didn't disappoint either and Deadpool 2 is already another huge hit with fans.

Internet speculation was in full swing for the sequel, with Deadpool joining the ranks of other franchises being theorized about and analyzed to absurdity. From people hopeful that Vanessa would manifest her own mutant powers to star-studded cameos, fans couldn't shut up and wait for the movie like normal people, blabbering on Reddit and elsewhere. Now that we've all had a few days to see the movie and compare notes, let us break down what the internet's fan theorists and leakers got right and, more importantly, what they got wrong. Of course, you should know that scrolling any further with absolutely spoil the movie if you haven't seen it. Consider this your first and final SPOILER ALERT!

20 WRONG: VANESSA SUPERPOWERS

When it was revealed that the talented Morena Baccarin was cast as Vanessa Carlysle, aka the mutant Copycat, in the original Deadpool movie, fans were really excited. Already a member of geek culture royalty for her role as Inara Serra in Firefly and Serenity, Baccarin was a welcome addition to the Merc with a mouth’s big screen debut. In the X-Force comics, Copycat is a shape-shifting mutant who was romantically involved with Wade Wilson. In the first movie, Vanessa and Wade are totally, adorably in love, but we never see any hint that Vanessa is anything more than a normal -- by Deadpool standards -- human. Fans theorized that after being exposed to the same vacuum tube thing that helped give Deadpool his powers, Vanessa would develop some latent mutant abilities for the sequel.

Since the trailers for Deadpool 2 showed Mr. Pool forming his own X-Force cinematic super-team, a lot of fans thought Vanessa would take on the mantle of Copycat and join the team for some R-rated superheroic hijinks. Deadpool 2 did indeed give us a few glorious minutes of Ryan Reynolds’ X-Force in action but since Vanessa died at the beginning of the movie, that theory didn’t really pan out.

19 RIGHT: THE JUGGERNAUT

The villain for Deadpool 2 was one of the cards that the people behind the film kept close to their chests during the promotional campaign for the movie. Eagle-eyed fans did catch one tiny hint in one of the trailers though. A quick shot of the CGI, Stefan Kapicic-voiced X-Person Colossus duking it out with a not-quite-visible opponent led to rampant speculation about who could stand toe to toe with the metal man. Many fans rightly guessed that the Juggernaut could make an appearance and butt heads with Colossus.

Previously depicted in X-Men: The Last Stand by Vinnie Jones, the new Juggernaut was an all CG character similar to Colossus and voiced by Ryan Reynolds himself. This version of Juggernaut is bigger, meaner, and takes up with the young Firefist (Julian Dennison’s character) for some good old-fashioned revenge. In fitting Deadpool fashion, his appearance is rife with fourth wall commentary about his history in the comics and features a reference to his stepbrother, Charles Xavier. Though he seems to have been disposed of in electrifying fashion, Juggernaut appears to have survived Deadpool 2 and will probably be holding onto a grudge in any sequel.

18 WRONG: VANESSA IS DEATH

Since it wasn’t exactly clear whether or not the cinematic version of Vanessa Carlysle was going to have any powers or not, many fans started pushing the theory that she was actually the Marvel personification of Death from the comics. In the comics, Death is a cosmic entity that is the embodiment of the end of life. The subject of the mad titan Thanos’ infatuation, Death is the reason he is all about killing stuff in the comics. Once Thanos is out of the picture, she and Deadpool develop some sort of... thang. During the 1998 Deadpool annual issue, the mercenary has a bunch of near-death experiences and develops feelings for Death herself.

Fans thought that Vanessa could be the first cinematic portrayal of Marvel’s Death character. The complimentary insanity of Wade and Vanessa’s relationship seemed similar to what Death and Deadpool had in the comics. It would have been neat to see Death on the big screen, especially with her being omitted from the other Marvel Cinematic universe. Alas, fans were denied hard during the first few minutes of Deadpool 2 after Vanessa gets killed by a drug lord looking to ambush Deadpool. They were close though, Vanessa isn’t Death, she’s just dead... well, temporarily.

17 RIGHT: BLACK TOM CASSIDY

The casting of an obscure and downright odd character from the X-Men villain back-catalog led fan theorists to believe that a mutant whose gift was channeling energy through wood was going to face off against Deadpool and friends. Black Tom Cassidy is just about as obscure as it gets, first seen in X-Men #101, Black Tom was the cousin of X-Person, Banshee and whose powers involve wood and has a history of teaming up with the Juggernaut. A weird choice for a comic movie villain but weird is what Deadpool thrives on.

The character we got on screen, played by Jack Kesy, was not much more than a prison yard bully whose name served as a springboard for Deadpool’s humor. We didn’t get to see his wood powers in action but we can only imagine what Deadpool would have said about it. While technically a minor villain in the movie, his fate at the hands of the Juggernaut means we probably won’t be seeing him onscreen again. Sad news indeed for all the Black Tom Cassidy fans out there, we know. Technically this bit of fan speculation was right, even if Black Tom wasn’t the main villain.

16 WRONG: MR SINISTER

Much theorizing was done on the internet about the antagonist of Deadpool 2. With the introduction of the machine-man from the future, Cable, and repeated hints from the wider X-Men movie universe, Deadpool 2 seemed like the perfect place to introduce long-time X-Men baddie Mr. Sinister. As part of his grand scheme to create the ultimate mutant, Mr. Sinister played a large role in the creation of Cable as well as a litany of clones created from other characters’ DNA in the comics. The after credits scene from X-Men: Apocalypse, with which the Deadpool movies share a universe, featured a shady looking fellow collecting blood samples and placing them in a briefcase labeled “ESSEX CORP.” Nathaniel Essex was, of course, Sinister’s name before he decided to let everyone know he was a bad guy.

We never got a Mr. Sinister reveal in Deadpool 2 but there were still some easter eggs for fans familiar with the X-Men rogue (no not that Rogue). The facility that Julian Dennison’s character Russel escapes from is called the Essex House for Mutant Rehabilitation. While there’s not really anything else to tie the place to the most Sinister of misters, it remains to be seen if Fox has any plans for him in their films.

15 RIGHT: THE BEGINNING AND END OF X-FORCE

When it was announced that Deadpool would bring together the X-Force for the first time on the big screen, rumors immediately began swirling that thought the team was just coming together, it wouldn’t last very long. Theorists took their cue from X-Force #116 from 2001 in which, during a botched rescue op, almost the entire team, which were just introduced in that issue, were brutally killed. It seems like a waste to have cast names like Bill Skarsgård and Terry Crews for the team only to have them killed right off, but Deadpool isn’t like a normal superhero movie and doesn't care about your feelings for the most part.

Fans were right with this one again. After spending some time introducing the X-Force and watching a rousing motivational speech from their leader Deadpool, the entire team, save the lucky Domino and the unkillable Deadpool, are brutally killed. Though Deadpool does uses his post-credits time traveling abilities to save Peter, he apparently didn’t care that much for anyone else on the team and appears to have left them dead. Who is going to make up the X-Force in any upcoming third Deadpool movie or in a standalone X-Force flick is anybody’s guess.

14 WRONG: MCU CONNECTION

Who knew that getting so many awesome comic movies would end up being so confusing. Let's break it down: up until Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man was separate from the main Marvel Universe in a pocket dimension owned by Sony. Likewise, the X-Men and Fantastic Four are partitioned off in their own dedicated universes, started by Fox with the first X-Men movie in 2000 and FF movies that no one cares about. Deadpool exists in some bastardized R-rated subsection of this X-Men universe. While we all desperately hope for a massive global monopoly to usher in the utopian vision of a world in which all Marvel superheroes can be a part of each other’s lives, it isn’t happening anytime soon.

That didn’t stop fan theorists with too much time on their hands drawing up elaborate plans for how Deadpool 2 could secretly be the one movie to bridge the gap between the X-Men and the Avengers. It didn’t happen though. Even though Josh Brolin as Cable meant that the MCU and Fox universes now have more in common than just physically impossible individuals in fabulous outfits, there are still no signs that Tony Stark and Rocket Raccoon are coming over to with Logan and Wade anytime soon.

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13 RIGHT: ZEITGEIST

Most of the members of X-Force were named when their casting was announced. Terry Crews’ Bedlam, Zazie Beets as Domino, and Lewis Tan’s Shatterstar were all confirmed appearances before the movie’s release. However, Bill Skarsgård’s character remained a mystery right up until the premiere. He was featured ever so briefly in the trailers and fans were quick to sacrifice their precious free time to ID him. Given very little to go on from his costume, theorists focused on the neon-colored mouth shield he wears and correctly pegged him as the former and ever so brief leader of X-Force, Zeitgeist.

One of the casualties during the events of X-Force #116, in which most of the X-Force is killed trying to reduce a kidnapped boy band, Zeitgeist’s mutant power was his super acidic vomit. Just like in the comics, Zeitgeist meets an untimely end during the mission to rescue Russel by landing directly in a wood chipper. Peter attempts to save him but that pesky acid vomit melts his arms and causes their deaths. Though Peter is brought back by the time the theater’s lights come on, Zeitgeist appears to be gone for good. That's a shame since some fourth-wall breaks about Skarsgård's It would have been amazing.

12 WRONG: JULIAN DENNISON IS HOPE

For the longest time 15-year-old, New Zealand actor Julian Dennison’s character in Deadpool 2 was shrouded in mystery. Some brief shots in the trailers showed him flipping the bird and mean mugging whilst surrounded by fire. The latter caused many of us here in nerdland to speculate that Dennison could be playing the Deadpool universe’s version of Hope Summers, the mutant messiah who is close with Cable in the comics. A gender-swapped version of the character made sense for some fans since Deadpool already set a precedent for playing fast and looses with the X-Men canon. Cable’s possession of a scorched teddy bear in the trailers fueled the theory that his entire reason for journeying through time in the movie was to save this version of Hope.

We did get to see a bit of a character called Hope in Deadpool 2 but instead of a mutant messiah, she was just Cable’s daughter in future. Dennison ended up being a version of the character Firefist that killed Cable’s family in the future. So, we were all way off. It remains to be seen if this Hope plays a role in the Deadpool and X-Men universes, but it doesn't seem likely at this point.

11 RIGHT: X-MEN CAMEOS

During the reshoots for Deadpool 2, it was rumored that Ryan Reynold’s was part of a super secret scene with a mystery actor. Though most of these rumors were wrongly associated with an actor whose famous character rhymes with “Pull-verine,” others took evidence from the trailers to guess that another, significantly less hairy X-Person would make a cameo. The trailers featured Deadpool riding around the X-Mansion in Professor X’s motorized wheelchair, so it was assumed Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy would appear in the film.

While not the only member of the X-Men and women to appear ever so briefly during Deadpool 2, it does appear that James McAvoy did make a cameo in the movie. Professor X was spotted alongside several of the other cast members from the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix in Deadpool 2. During Deadpool’s relatively low-key rampage through the mansion, we see Beast shut the door to a room containing Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Quicksilver. We can only imagine that the X-Men have better things to do than deal with Wade Wilson’s profanity-laden antics, especially since Jean Grey is conspicuously absent. This also makes the X-Men cinematic timeline even more confusing. Hasn't it been like 40 years since X-Men: Apocalypse?

10 WRONG: X-23

Deadpool 2 isn’t shy about its feelings towards Hugh Jackman and his role as Wolverine, especially in Logan. Within the first few minutes of the film, Deadpool makes it apparent that he holds some resentment towards the R-rated story of an old man Logan. Fans thought that in absence of the huge jack man as Wolverine, his daughter would be the next best thing. Bringing Laura Kinney, or X-23, into the Deadpool-verse would have undoubtedly brought some seriously hilarious, fourth wall breaking, lines and another level to the brutality. But it wouldn’t have made much sense.

That didn’t stop people across the internets from claiming that X-23 could make it into Deadpool 2. Laura was last seen crossing the border into her ancestral homeland of Canada with her friends at the end of Logan. Also, that was in the future so bringing her into the seemingly more contemporary setting of the Deadpool movies would have been hard to explain. Even for Deadpool. Whether or not we’ll be seeing more of Dafne Keen’s lauded version of X-23 in future X-Men films is still up in the air but hopefully, this is a theory that becomes fact before too long.

9 RIGHT: NEW MUTANTS

At the beginning of 2018, news broke that several of the upcoming X-Men related movies would be shifting release dates. Deadpool 2 got an earlier release but Josh Boone’s horror-influenced New Mutants was pushed back almost a year. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, and Charlie Heaton, New Mutants was given a new release date of Feb 2019, some fans suspected to give Deadpool 2 a chance to set up the movie a little better with its reshoots. The inclusion of the Essex Home For Mutant Rehabilitation in DP2 could be a major hint as to the plot of the horror-tinged New Mutants.

While not entirely right, the second DP movie did feature some nods to the teenage New Mutants. Specifically, Brianna Hildebrand’s Negasonic Teenage Warhead (that is just a fun to type as it is to say) and her young mutant girlfriend could be the beginnings of the teenage squad. Theorists also pointed out that Negasonic’s black and yellow outfit looks similar to the uniform of the group. Deadpool originally first appeared in the New Mutants comics so it would only be right to have him introduce them in the cinematic universe.

8 WRONG: HUGH JACKMAN

As much as Ryan Reynolds and his almost indistinguishable personality as Wade Wilson would love to get another shrimp on the barbie with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, it seems that short of a universal Marvel integration, it just isn’t going to happen. Several references in the first Deadpool made it seem like nothing would make Reynolds/Wilson happier than chopping up bad guys with Wolverine in a movie that didn’t have Origins as a subtitle. After Logan though, it was going to be tough to get the characters together even if all the other stars aligned. Still, what would have been one of the greatest retcons in history was touted as a theory by fans who were desperate to see the pair on screen.

Deadpool 2 wasn’t shy about calling out Logan, but those references were all we got. Ok, the credits sequence did feature an appearance by Hugh Jackman as Wolverine when Deadpool used Cable’s watch to jump through time and right the merc’s perceived greatest historical wrongs. Featuring Jackman's showdown with Reynolds’ first Deadpool, the merc without a mouth. But this was just recycled footage from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so it doesn’t count as a cameo, technically.

7 RIGHT: BLACK AND WHITE SUIT

Deadpool’s red and black getup is now instantly recognizable. However, a lot of non-comic reading comic book movie fans don’t know that he had a stealthier black and grey getup in the X-Force comics. Fans in the know spotted what looked like the more subdued costume in a photo Ryan Reynolds posted online, and in the trailer. Another shot in the trailer appeared to show what looked like the more monochromatic suit in action for a brief moment. The fans were right again with this one, even if only tangentially.

During the fiery final showdown at the end of Deadpool 2, Deadpool gets blasted and his suit is covered in ash and dirt. This gives him the same appearance as his black and grey suit, from the front anyway. The backside is still red and black. Though the suit seems to have reverted to its normal black and red look by the time he goes adventuring through time during the credits sequence, maybe the look struck DP as fashionable and we’ll be seeing it more in future appearances. If the success of the Deadpool franchise means an X-Force movie is on the way, then a costume change for mister Wilson might be in order.

6 WRONG: CABLE CLONE

The marketing for Deadpool 2 left us with little information about the plot of the movie. Namely, who exactly would Deadpool and his newly assembled group of mutant mercenaries be facing off against? The introduction of Cable led many to believe that he would be working alongside X-Force by the midpoint of the movie. Since Cable and Deadpool are a very dynamic duo in the comics, it stood to reason that the pair would unite onscreen to face down a greater evil. Other than Mr. Sinister, another prevalent theory was that Cable’s evil clone Stryfe would be the antagonist of the film. Besides giving Josh Brolin more screen time, this also would have given Deadpool a lot of fourth-wall material to work with.

However, we never got to see the clone of Cable in Deadpool 2. Given his close relationship with Apocalypse in the comics and without the clone obsessed antics of Mr. Sinister to justify him there was just no way to make Stryfe work in the movie. Introducing time travel and mutant clones both at the same time in the Deadpool corner of the X-Men cinematic universe would have been a tough pill for audiences. More on clones in a bit...

5 RIGHT: CUTTING BABY HITLER

One of the most blasphemous rumors surrounding Deadpool 2 prior to release was that the movie performed poorly with test audiences. Since the first Deadpool was one of the highest grossing R-rated movies of all time, how could the studio mess up the sequel? Internet rumors pointed to issues with the plot and the “fridging” of Vanessa. Reshoots allegedly gave us more Domino and Cable, which the test screeners responded well to. But, one of the post-credit scenes was scrapped for being too offensive, which, for anybody who knows anything about Deadpool, is really saying something.

During the sequel’s credits, we see Deadpool jumping through time to right wrongs like the death of his beloved Peter (oh, and Vanessa). Apparently, the original sequence included Deadpool traveling back in time to kill Hitler as a baby. The graphic scene would have played out from baby Hitler’s perspective as Deadpool strangled the infant to death. After the movie’s release, screenwriters confirmed that scene was originally supposed to be the very end of the movie, but was cut before filming started. Apparently, there's just no way to make infanticide funny, even for Deadpool. Though apparently there was no way that test audiences actually saw the scene it was still a rumor before the director confirmed it.

4 WRONG: DEADPOOL IS THE VILLAIN

So many Deadpool 2 villain theories were floating through the internet tubes before the movie’s release. Just before Josh Brolin’s Cable was announced, a theory showed up on Reddit that an even more warped clone of Deadpool would be the big bad of the movie. In the comics, Deadpool did have to battle a version of himself which was assembled by his severed limbs, like a snarky Frankenstein’s Monster. While we all would have loved watching Ryan Reynold’s try to out-fourth-wall-break himself in real time, it was not to be and we didn’t see any signs of a Deadpool clone.

The inevitable bromance between Cable and Deadpool didn’t really form until the last act of the film but an evil Deadpool clone would have been an excellent catalyst for it in an alternate universe. You can’t help but laugh just imagining the dialogue of a Deadpool v. Deadpool scene. Having the DP and Cable combo put aside their differences to mow through a squad of meat sacks was super satisfying in its own right, though. We don’t mean to fan theorize in a list about other fan theories but a Deadpool clone made by Mr. Sinister would make a great antagonist for an X-Force movie. We’re just saying...

3 RIGHT: DEADPOOL DIES

The friendly, and seemingly one-sided, rivalry between Deadpool and Wolverine was laid to rest when the latter officially died at the end of Logan. Not only did Mr. Howlett rip off the whole R-rated superhero movie idea from Deadpool, he went so far as to one-up the dramatic stakes by dying at the end. Many fans theorized that Deadpool, in his fourth-wall-breaking omniscience, was going to one-up Wolverine by dying in his own movie. Both characters have healing factors that allow them to survive just about anything but since Logan managed to pull it off with plenty of dramatic effect, many guessed Deadpool would do the same.

Sure enough, one of the very first things we see in Deadpool 2 is the merc running his mouth about Wolverine and telling the audience that he will be dying himself in this movie. And by the end of the movie, Deadpool has indeed crossed over to the other side to be with his dearly departed Vanessa. Cable uses his last bit of time travel fuel to go back and save him, though, giving up the chance to see his own family again giving Deadpool his own dramatic death and resurrection.

2 RIGHT: BRAD PITT

As soon as the credits rolled on the original Deadpool and the announcement was made that a sequel was coming and would including comic fan favorite Cable, the internet rumor mill started working away at who could play the mutant from the future. Pierce Brosnan and several other big names were the subject of photoshops and theories regarding the character. Before it was finally announced that Josh Brolin would play Cable, Brad Pitt was rumored to be in serious talks for the role as well. Given the relationship between the new Deadpool 2 director, David Leitch, and Pitt, it seemed very likely to fans that Pitt could be it.

Leitch, who had worked as a stunt double for Matt Damon, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Pitt before going on to direct John Wick, confirmed at the premiere that Pitt was asked to play Cable but scheduling conflicts prevented it. Pitt still makes an appearance as the invisible X-Force member Vanisher in the movie. While most viewers wouldn’t have been at fault for thinking that Vanisher was never really there at all, his unfortunate encounter with some electrical wires proved he was not only real but also played by Brad Pitt.

1 WRONG: UNCLE BEN

In one of the Deadpool 2 teasers that didn’t feature an homage to Bob Ross, Deadpool hilariously fails to save an old man from being robbed and murdered in a dark alleyway. Riffing on the classic Superman trope of changing into the supersuit in a phone booth, Pool takes about as long as it would actually take to suit up, which is a while. In the meantime, the old man bleeds out. The crime bore such a resemblance to the trigger for another friendly neighborhood hero's own crusade that fans theorized the teaser actually showed the murder of Spider-Man’s beloved Uncle Ben.

The theory was so popular that the film's director, David Leitch, actually commented on its validity during an interview with the Huffington Post. Leitch said, "That's a really interesting question. I think that people should continue to theorize who that old man was,” which is basically a really encouraging “no.” As much as the world really needs another depiction of the same loving old father figure’s brutal and completely preventable murder, the Deadpool teaser wasn’t it. Who knows, now that Avenger: Infinity War turned the current Peter Parker to dust, maybe Fox can cut a deal with Sony and give us a Spider-Man and X-Men crossover.